Global Criminal Groups Targeted

U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, warning that organized crime is a “poison” threatening democracy, urged governments Monday to fight back against the growing power of the world’s criminal networks.

Opening a three-day ministerial conference on cross-border crime, he told delegates from 138 countries that the tentacles of “crime multinationals” had spread across the globe.

The conference is the highest-level meeting called by the United Nations on organized crime.